Five Hartford police officers, shot on duty, are posthumously honored

Deirdre Howard, left, Patricia Regan Brown, center, and retired Hartford Police Det. James Howard, right, family of Hartford Officer James Regan, bow their heads in prayer during a ceremony Wednesday for five officers who were severely injured in the line of duty before 1974. (Mark Mirko / Hartford Courant)

Two years ago, while talking to a friend, retired Hartford Police Sgt. Thomas Elwood learned that a fellow officer who was shot on duty never received a citation for his valor.

With a little digging, he discovered the officer wasn’t alone. Nine members of the force who served prior to 1974 — the year the department began handing out the prestigious police cross award to officers badly injured on the job — had not gotten the recognition.

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Retired Hartford Police Sgt. Thomas Elwood talks with the families of four officers severely injured in the line of duty prior to 1974. The officers have all died. Family members accepted awards Wednesday on their behalf. (Mark Mirko / Hartford Courant)

So Elwood set out to change that. In 2016 and 2017, he tracked down four of the officers and arranged for them to receive the police cross, a dazzling red, blue and gold medal that some have likened to the military’s Purple Heart award.

In 2018, he reached out to the families of the remaining five. All of the men, who were injured while serving between 1958 and 1969, have died. On Wednesday, relatives of those fallen officers gathered at Hartford police headquarters to collect the medals.

“These guys just don’t have a voice anymore,” Elwood, 63, said. “It was the right thing to do.”

Here are the men honored Wednesday:

Det. Floyd Hartfield, far right, was shot in the early morning hours of Christmas Day in 1959. (Thomas Elwood)

Det. Floyd Hartfield

Floyd Hartfield was working a private duty job in the early morning hours of Christmas Day in 1959 when a patron at the Elks Lodge on Bellevue Street became belligerent. The patron was told to leave, but he returned a short time later. He called out for Hartfield, raised a .38-caliber semiautomatic pistol and shot him in the abdomen.

Hartfield’s oldest son, Larry, who was 7 at the time, remembers that somber holiday.

“My mother woke me up and said, ‘Your father got shot,’” he recalled Wednesday. “It was just devastating. We thought he was going to die.”

Yvette Gaineous, Larry Hartfield, Bernice Hartfield and Courtney Roberts listen as their family member, Det. Floyd Hartfield, was awarded the police cross for his service on Wednesday. (Mark Mirko/Hartford Courant)

The family spent Christmas in the hospital. When Hartfield recovered, his wife pleaded with him not to return to the force. But he went back and served another 27 years, working his way up to detective. He retired in 1986.

The shooter was convicted of attempted murder.

“When most people would say, ‘I can’t do this anymore,’ he never did,” Larry said. “My mother couldn’t stop him. No one could. This is what he wanted to do.”

Officer Antonio Fasanelli

Officer Antonio “Tony” Fasanelli was climbing out of his cruiser near the intersection of Main and Seyms streets on Sept. 2, 1969, when a man drew a .32-caliber revolver and shot him in the right thigh. With the death of Martin Luther King Jr. still fresh, the streets that day were teeming with violent protests, part of a wave of riots to hit Hartford that year.

After his release from the hospital, Fasanelli went back to work. His love of dogs led him to become a canine officer, and he later served in the department’s traffic division. He retired in the 1980s after 41 years on the force.

The shooter was convicted of attempted murder.

“I know it would have meant everything to him,” his daughter, Sharon Turner, said of the award she collected on his behalf Wednesday. “He loved the job. He loved the city. That’s why he did it for so long.”

Fasanelli died in May 2013.

Det. Chester Stelmach, third from left, was shot through the hand in 1963. (Thomas Elwood)

Det. Chester Stelmach

On Sept. 27, 1963, Det. Chester Stelmach and his partner responded to a report of a person with a gun. When they approached two men at 101 Walnut St., one of them pulled a .25-caliber pistol and shot Stelmach through the hand.

The gun jammed, and when the shooter turned toward Stelmach’s partner, Sgt. Biaggio Ruccithe, Ruccithe fired twice and killed him. Stelmach was treated for his injury and returned to the vice squad. He retired in 1968 after 21 years on the force.

“He passed away when I was 12 years old, but I remember we lived in the North End of Hartford and he was a hardworking cop,” said his daughter, Karin Carmichael, who accepted the police cross for her father. “It’s been so long, but we will never forget him. I’m proud that he was a police officer.”

Stelmach died in February 1974.

Officer James Francis Regan was shot in 1964 when he interrupted a burglary. (Thomas Elwood)

Officer James Francis Regan

Officer James “Jimmy” Regan interrupted a burglary at a store near the corner of Asylum and Trumbull streets on May 25, 1964. During a struggle with the suspect, the man grabbed Regan’s gun and shot him in the neck and shoulder.

The shooter fled to the now-defunct Hartford Hotel at 240 Church St., where another officer, Henry Jennings, caught up with him. As the men exchanged gunfire, Jennings was shot and killed. The shooter was captured after a long standoff with police.

Godfrey recovered and continued working at the department through the late 1960s. He moved to Virginia and died in 1969 at age 48. Elwood, the retired sergeant who sought to issue the awards, said he and other officers could not find any of Godfrey’s family members.

“His name will be added to a plaque outside the roll call room so future officers will know about him,” Elwood said.